Palestinian report: 440,415 settlers in West Bank and Gaza Strip

Published August 7th, 2005 - 12:02 GMT

Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) has reported that the number of Jewish settlers in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) in 2004 reached 440,415, including 432,275 in the West Bank and 8,140 in Gaza Strip.

In a report about Israeli settlements in OPT for the year 2004, (PCBS) said August 7 that the percentage of settlers in OPT, according to 2004 data, equaled 10.6% of the total population of the OPT with the highest percentage at Jerusalem Governorate at 37.5% (42.7% of it includes that part of Jerusalem, which was annexed forcefully by Israel following its occupation of the West Bank in 1967), 32.1% in Salfit District, and 21.5% in Qalqiliya Governorate.

The lowest percentage was in Gaza Governorate, Deir Al-Balah Governorate, Rafah Governorate, and North Gaza Governorate at 0.1%-0.6%.

According to the data, the number of formal settlements in the OPT totaled 165 in 2004, including 148 in the West Bank and 17 in Gaza Strip.

"In 2004, the number of formal urban settlements in the Remaining West Bank (the West Bank except for those parts of Jerusalem, which were annexed after 1967 occupation by Israel) totaled 24, distributed among population sectors as follows: 15 settlements with a population of 2,000-5,999 settlers, 3 settlements with a population of 6,000-9,999, the rest lived in settlements of a population of 10,000-41,999 settlers. In Gaza Strip, on the other hand, there was one urban colony with a population of 2,600 settlers", PCBS added.

The PCBS revealed that the settlerrs' population of rural settlements is distributed among 124 settlements, including 50 religious settlements, 40 secular settlements and 13 mixed others.

The PCBS concluded that the area of built-up land of the occupation sites in West Bank amounted to 187,091.6 thousand square meters in August 2004. The largest area was in Jerusalem Governorate at 23.7% of the total area of built-up land of settlements in the West Bank.